As anyone who knows him realizes, Tom Regis literally wears a lot of different hats. And as anyone familiar with his work as a musician knows, he figuratively wears even more. In his Delray Jazz Collective, the Swampscott, Mass., native and Delray Beach resident alternates between being the band's keyboardist or drummer. That involves two hats. Yet Regis also plays acoustic … [Read more...]
‘Billy’ Billingham: Lake Worth Beach’s tough guy reality TV star
Of all the things one might expect to find along an otherwise nondescript street in southern Lake Worth Beach, a reality TV star's residence would probably not be among them. But that's where Mark "Billy" Billingham (markbillybillingham.com), of the Fox network's Wednesday night show Special Forces: World's Toughest Test, lives when he's not flying around the globe for … [Read more...]
Double Roads Tavern returning to Jupiter in new year
Baby Boomer nostalgia seems to be fueling a lot of modern leisure and entertainment, especially in South Florida, but there are some things that can't be brought back. Like Double Roads, the area along the ocean north of Marcinski Road in Juno Beach. That's where teens, many of whom are now in the Boomer age bracket, once congregated from the 1960s through the 1980s. There … [Read more...]
‘Head On’: Legendary Dolphin Csonka recounts losses amid gridiron glory
It's impossible to reflect on Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Larry Csonka's new memoir Head On (Matt Holt/BenBella Books) without referencing Always On the Run (1973), the former Miami Dolphins fullback's previous book of ever-colorful exploits. As told to New York Times columnist Dave Anderson, that entertaining 50-year-old set of tall-but-true tales was authored with Csonka's … [Read more...]
Northwood entrepreneur dreams of Wynwood vibe in West Palm
Location, location, location. It's recurrently stressed as the prime factor in real estate and startup businesses, but always with an eye toward the present. Joe DeStephan, on the other hand, has both eyes fixed on the future. His Northwood Art & Music Warehouse in West Palm Beach is situated in an industrial region several blocks west of the Northwood section's … [Read more...]
‘Well of Souls’ traverses shameful histories in telling tale of the banjo
Usually, the movie follows the book. But in the case of Kristina R. Gaddy's well-researched, comprehensive chronology Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History (Norton), it follows a documentary on the same subject by 14 years. Bela Fleck & the Flecktones' namesake banjoist and bandleader covered similar territory in 2008 with Throw Down Your Heart. The Sascha … [Read more...]
At a Lake Worth Beach church, another school of rock takes shape
Chris O’Brien, founder, owner and instructor at the Lake Worth Beach-based music school Music4Lyfe (www.music4lyfe.org), tried doing things by the book. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music from Florida State University in 2009, the Delray Beach native and resident returned south to pay it forward. Over the next decade, he taught at a handful of Palm Beach … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in pop
"Pop" is an all-encompassing term used to describe music that basically isn't jazz, classical or opera. Therefore, it describes the sampling of James Brown, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Alison Krauss, Lucius, Nirvana, Public Enemy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Hank Williams. Which mostly constitutes a cross-reference of what's become, in the tribute act era, a form of … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in jazz
In 1998, a quartet of jazz/fusion veterans started an instrumental group in which they interpreted music by seminal jam band the Grateful Dead. More recently, a rising jazz record label started mixing in elements of hip-hop to draw new and younger fans to America's time-honored genre. Both are called Jazz Is Dead. Yet this isn't an obituary for live jazz, rather … [Read more...]
Bumblefest, Edition No. 6, takes West Palm streets Sept. 2-3
For cultured South Florida listeners seeking to hear things they've never heard before, who think that the area is inundated with only classic rock nostalgia tours and tribute acts paying homage to them, this "buzz" is for you. The sixth installment of Bumblefest (www.Bumblefest.com), celebrating the 11th anniversary of Lake Clarke Shores-based promoter and publisher … [Read more...]